1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector and more particularly, to an electrical connector having a slider which indicates a coupling state of male and female connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Utility Model Registration Application laid-open No. 1-165582 (hereinafter "JP'582") and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 9-251875 (hereinafter "JP'875") disclose an electrical connector having a slider as a coupling state checking means on a male or female connector.
FIGS. 4, 5A, 5B, and 5C show a prior art electrical connector disclosed in JP'582.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a first prior art electrical connector consisting of male and female connectors. And, FIGS. 5A-5C are partly sectional side views showing movement of a slider of the electrical connector of FIG. 4.
In FIG. 4, the prior art electrical connector 100 consists of a male connector 110, a slider 120 provided on the male connector 110 as a coupling state checking means, and a female connector 130 to be coupled to the male connector 110.
A housing 111 of the male connector 110 is provided with a resilient locking arm 112 which has a locking nail 112a on the rear end thereof.
As is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5A, an engaging projection 113 projects from both sides of a root portion of the locking arm 112. The engaging projections 113 act as a stopper for the slider 120.
The slider 120 is slidably provided on an upper portion of the male connector 110 and has a pair of right and left resilient engaging members 121 being in a spear-shape and extending toward the front end of the male connector 110.
The slider 120 is prevented from sliding forward by an abutment of the front ends of the resilient engaging members 121 against the engaging projections 113 of the male connector 110.
The top wall of the female connector 130 is provided with a lock opening 132 to engage the locking nail 112a of the male connector 110.
And, inside the housing 131 of the female connector 130 a pair of spear-shaped engagement releasing members 133 project, which engagement releasing members 133 pass under the respective engaging projections 113 of the male connector 110 and slidingly push upwardly the respective resilient engaging members 121.
Referring to FIG. 5A-5C, a checking action of a coupling state of the male and female connectors 110,130 by means of the slider 120 is described below.
As shown in FIG. 5A, before coupling the male and female connectors 110,130, the slider 120 can not be advanced since the front ends of the resilient engaging members 121 of the slider 120 abut on the engaging projections 113 of the male connector 110.
Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, upon complete coupling of the male and female connectors 110,130, the inclined planes 121a of the resilient engaging members 121 of the slider 120 slide on the respective inclined planes 133a of the engagement releasing members 133 of the female connector 130 and the resilient engaging members 121 are bent upwardly.
And then, the resilient engaging members 121 are disengaged from the engaging projections 113 and, as shown in FIG. 5C, the slider 120 can be inserted forwardly.
That is, the slider 120 can be inserted forwardly only when the male and female connectors 110,130 are completely coupled.
Therefore, an operator can check a coupling state of the male and female connectors 110,130 according to possibility of the inserting operation.
Further, a second prior art electrical connector disclosed in "JP'875" is described, referring to FIGS. 6 and 7.
FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing a second prior art electrical connector consisting of male and female connectors, and FIG. 7 is a partly sectional plan view showing an initial coupling state of the male and female connectors of FIG. 6.
In FIG. 6, the prior art electrical connector 200 consists of a female connector 210, a slider 220 provided on the female connector 210 as a coupling state checking means, a cover 230 to slidably cover the slider 220, and a male connector 240 to be coupled to the female connector 210.
A housing 211 of the female connector 210 is provided with opposite slide grooves 212 for attaching the slider 220 and the cover 230.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a number of male terminals project inside the housing 211, wherein reference numerals 213 and 214 indicate a coupling detecting male terminal and a feeding male terminal, respectively.
These the coupling detecting male terminal 213 and the feeding male terminal 214 are connected to the judging circuit 250.
And, a warning lamp 260 to indicate a coupling state of the male and female connectors 240,210 is connected to the judging circuit 250.
The judging circuit 250 puts on the warning lamp 260 when the circuit 250 is fed from the feeding male terminal 214 and simultaneously the coupling detecting male terminals 213 are not shorted. On the contrary, the judging circuit 250 puts off the warning lamp 260 when the circuit 250 is fed from the feeding male terminal 214 and simultaneously the coupling detecting male terminals 213 are shorted.
As shown in FIG. 6, a guide rib 221 to be guided by one slide groove 212 of the female connector 210 is provided on one side of the slider 220, and a guide groove 223 to correspond to the other slide groove 212 is provided on the other side of the slider 220. And, an exposed wall 222 is formed integrally with the guide groove 223.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a pair, of springs 224 to abut on one end of the cover 230 for pushing the slider 220 toward the other end is provided on one end side of the slider 220.
On the other hand, on the other end side of the slider 220, a forked-shape coupling detecting female terminal 226 to short the coupling detecting male terminals 213 of the female connector 210 is provided.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, on the back of the slider 220, a slide-driving portion 225 to make the slider 220 slide along the slide grooves 212 is integrally formed, which slide-driving portion 225 is provided with an oblique cam 225a.
In FIGS. 6 and 7, a pushing projection 242 projects from the top of a housing 241 of the male connector 240.
The pushing projection 242 comes into contact with the cam 225a of the slide-driving portion 225 in a coupling process of the male and female connectors 240,210 and makes the slider 220 slide longitudinally.
And, inside the housing 241 of the male connector 240, a number of female terminals to be connected to the male terminals of the female connector 210 project. A reference numeral 243 indicates a feeding female terminal which is to be connected to the feeding male terminal 214 of the female connector 210 and feeds to the judging circuit 250.
Next, referring to FIG. 7, a checking action of a coupling state of the male and female connectors 240,210 by means of the slider 220 is described.
In FIG. 7, as inserting the male connector 240 into the female connector 210, the pushing projection 242 of the male connector 240 pushes the cam 225a of the slide-driving portion 225 and moves the slider 220 back against the springs 224.
This makes the coupling detecting female terminal 226 of the slider 220 get out of contact with the coupling detecting male terminals 213 of the female connector 210.
As further inserting the male connector 240 into the female connector 210, the feeding female terminal 243 of the male connector 240 comes into contact with the feeding male terminal 214 of the female connector 210 and the judging circuit 250 is fed.
By this, the warning lamp 260 is put on, which indicates that the male connector 240 and the female connector 210 are in an incomplete coupling state.
And then, as completely coupling the male connector 240 to the female connector 210, the pushing projection 242 of the male connector 240 passes over the cam 225a of the slide-driving portion 225 and the slider 220 returns to the initial state.
And, the coupling detecting female terminal 226 of the slider 220 comes into contact with the coupling detecting male terminals 213 of the female connector 210, and the coupling detecting male terminals 213 short.
This stops feeding to the judging circuit 250 and puts off the warning lamp 260, which indicates that the male connector 240 and the female connector 210 are in a complete coupling state.
Therefore, a complete coupling of the male and female connectors 240,210 can be surely obtained by inserting the male connector 240 into the female connector 210 until the warning lamp 260 is put off, thereby surely preventing occurrence of an incomplete coupling of the male and female connectors 240,210.
With respect to the above first prior art electrical connector 100, however, since a coupling state of the male and female connectors 110,130 is checked according to possibility of an pushing operation of the slider 120 by an operator, if an operator neglects the pushing operation of the slider, a coupling state of the male and female connectors 110,130 can not be checked.
And, besides the necessity of the pushing operation of the slider 120 to check a coupling state of the male and female connectors 110,130, the slider 120 has to be returned to the initial state in preparation for coupling the connectors 110,130 again after uncoupling the coupled male and female connectors 110,130.
On the other hand, with respect to the above second prior art electrical connector 200, though a coupling state of the male and female connectors 240,210 can be checked without any operation, the slider 220 has to be returned in order to extract the male connector 240 from the female connector 210 in case of uncoupling the male and female connectors 240,210.
And, since the spring 224 as the returning means of the slider 220 and also the judging circuit 250 or the warning lamp 260 as the indication means of the coupling state are used, a number of parts are required and the structure is complicated.